Abstract Image processing techniques can be used to modulate the pixel intensities of an image to reduce the power consumption of the display device. A simple example of this consists of uniformly dimming the entire image. Such algorithms should strive to minimize the impact on image quality while maximizing power savings. Techniques based on heuristics or human perception have been proposed, both for traditional flat panel displays and modern display modalities such as virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR). In this paper, we focus on developing and evaluating display power‐saving techniques that use machine learning (ML) in VR displays. We developed a U‐Net‐based technique paired with perceptual and power optimization loss functions that generates spatially varying dimming maps. These dimming maps are used to modulate input images, per‐pixel, to generate a power‐efficient image. Our pipeline was validated via quantitative analysis using image quality metrics and through a subjective study. Our subjective validation provides results scaled in perceptual just‐objectionable‐difference (JOD) units. This data, when rescaled, allows for comparisons of our technique with recent studies on VR display power optimization. Our results show that participants prefer our technique over a uniform dimming baseline for high target power saving conditions. This model and study serve as a template and baseline for future applications of deep learning to display power optimization. Model training code and data can be found at kenchen10.github.io/projects/mlpea/index.html .

End-to-end (e2e) latency in head-mounted displays (HMD) is the time delay between a physical change in the world (e.g., a user's head movement) and the moment the display updates to reflect that change. Tracking, rendering, and other computation in real systems invariably introduce some amount of e2e latency to all HMDs. In modern devices this latency is usually in the range of 12-60 milliseconds which is partially addressed through pose prediction and late stage reprojection which means that perceptual studies and user experience evaluations cannot explore latencies below these values. Here, we introduce a video passthrough HMD, called Camsicle, which is capable of 2-millisecond e2e latency and, additionally, uses a catadioptric design to achieve perspective-correct passthrough without reprojection. This platform enables naturalistic user studies to interrogate the impacts of latency on user experience, preference, and performance. Across two user studies and 57 participants we find that 2 and 14.3 millisecond latencies are preferred over 23 and 29 milliseconds when attempting to catch a ball. Additionally, we compare individual latency preferences in this naturalistic ball-catching task to psychophysical thresholds for latency detection in a reference-grade system with zero latency to investigate how psychophysical thresholds may relate to subjective evaluations in naturalistic scenarios.

Holographic displays are plagued by speckle - noise-like artifacts caused by the coherent interference of laser light. To mitigate this challenge, state-of-the-art systems use time multiplexing on fast spatial light modulators (SLMs) to effectively temporally smooth out these effects. In our work, we observe that such an approach struggles in practice in the context of dynamic content, manifesting motion blur and stroboscopic artifacts thanks to a fundamental mismatch between expected and displayed motion. To tackle this challenge, we propose a paradigm of holographic high-speed display, where we use the underlying fast SLM to reproduce target content that changes at the same framerate. Approaches built using this paradigm mitigate motion blur and strobing, and simultaneously minimize speckle and maximize contrast with the right loss functions. We demonstrate such a methodology in both simulation and a real system.

Holographic near-eye displays promise unparalleled depth cues, high-resolution imagery, and realistic three-dimensional parallax at a compact form factor, making them promising candidates for emerging augmented and virtual reality systems. However, existing holographic display methods often assume ideal viewing conditions and overlook real-world factors such as eye floaters and eyelashes—obstructions that can severely degrade perceived image quality. In this work, we propose a new metric that quantifies hologram resilience to artifacts and apply it to computer generated holography (CGH) optimization. We call this Artifact Resilient Holography (ARH). We begin by introducing a simulation method that models the effects of pre- and post-pupil obstructions on holographic displays. Our analysis reveals that eyebox regions dominated by low frequencies—produced especially by the smooth-phase holograms broadly adopted in recent holography work—are vulnerable to visual degradation from dynamic obstructions such as floaters and eyelashes. In contrast, random phase holograms spread energy more uniformly across the eyebox spectrum, enabling them to diffract around obstructions without producing prominent artifacts. By characterizing a random phase eyebox using the Rayleigh Distribution, we derive a differentiable metric in the eyebox domain. We then apply this metric to train a real-time neural network-based phase generator, enabling it to produce artifact-resilient 3D holograms that preserve visual fidelity across a range of practical viewing conditions—enhancing both robustness and user interactivity.

Holographic displays hold the promise of providing authentic depth cues, resulting in enhanced immersive visual experiences for near-eye applications. However, current holographic displays are hindered by speckle noise, which limits accurate reproduction of color and texture in displayed images. We present HoloChrome, a polychromatic holographic display framework designed to mitigate these limitations. HoloChrome utilizes an ultrafast, wavelength-adjustable laser and a dual-Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) architecture, enabling the multiplexing of a large set of discrete wavelengths across the visible spectrum. By leveraging spatial separation in our dual-SLM setup, we independently manipulate speckle patterns across multiple wavelengths. This novel approach effectively reduces speckle noise through incoherent averaging achieved by wavelength multiplexing, specifically by using a single SLM pattern to modulate multiple wavelengths simultaneously on one or more SLM devices. Our method is complementary to existing speckle reduction techniques, offering a new pathway to address this challenge. Furthermore, the use of polychromatic illumination broadens the achievable color gamut compared to traditional three-color primary holographic displays. Our simulations and tabletop experiments validate that HoloChrome significantly reduces speckle noise and expands the color gamut. These advancements enhance the performance of holographic near-eye displays, moving us closer to practical, immersive next-generation visual experiences.

Display power consumption is an emerging concern for untethered devices. This goes double for augmented and virtual extended reality (XR) displays, which target high refresh rates and high resolutions while conforming to an ergonomically light form factor. A number of image mapping techniques have been proposed to extend battery usage. However, there is currently no comprehensive quantitative understanding of how the power savings provided by these methods compare to their impact on visual quality. We set out to answer this question. To this end, we present a perceptual evaluation of algorithms (PEA) for power optimization in XR displays (PODs). Consolidating a portfolio of six power-saving display mapping approaches, we begin by performing a large-scale perceptual study to understand the impact of each method on perceived quality in the wild. This results in a unified quality score for each technique, scaled in just-objectionable-difference (JOD) units. In parallel, each technique is analyzed using hardware-accurate power models. The resulting JOD-to-Milliwatt transfer function provides a first-of-its-kind look into tradeoffs offered by display mapping techniques, and can be directly employed to make architectural decisions for power budgets on XR displays. Finally, we leverage our study data and power models to address important display power applications like the choice of display primary, power implications of eye tracking, and more 1 .

The Visual Turing Test is the ultimate goal to evaluate the realism of holographic displays. Previous studies have focused on addressing challenges such as limited étendue and image quality over a large focal volume, but they have not investigated the effect of pupil sampling on the viewing experience in full 3D holograms. In this work, we tackle this problem with a novel hologram generation algorithm motivated by matching the projection operators of incoherent (Light Field) and coherent (Wigner Function) light transport. To this end, we supervise hologram computation using synthesized photographs, which are rendered on-the-fly using Light Field refocusing from stochastically sampled pupil states during optimization. The proposed method produces holograms with correct parallax and focus cues, which are important for passing the Visual Turing Test. We validate that our approach compares favorably to state-of-the-art CGH algorithms that use Light Field and Focal Stack supervision. Our experiments demonstrate that our algorithm improves the viewing experience when evaluated under a large variety of different pupil states.

Computer generated holography has long been touted as the future of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) displays, but has yet to be realized in practice. Previous high-quality, color holographic displays have made either a 3 × sacrifice on frame rate by using a sequential color illumination scheme or used more than one spatial light modulator (SLM) and/or bulky, complex optical setups. The reduced frame rate of sequential color introduces distracting judder and color fringing in the presence of head motion while the form factor of current simultaneous color systems is incompatible with a head-mounted display. In this work, we propose a framework for simultaneous color holography that allows the use of the full SLM frame rate while maintaining a compact and simple optical setup. Simultaneous color holograms are optimized through the use of a perceptual loss function, a physics-based neural network wavefront propagator, and a camera-calibrated forward model. We measurably improve hologram quality compared to other simultaneous color methods and move one step closer to the realization of color holographic displays for AR/VR.

Tone mapping operators aim to remap content to a display’s dynamic range. Virtual reality is a popular new display modality that has significant differences from other media, making the use of traditional tone mapping techniques difficult. Moreover, real-time adaptive estimation of tone curves that faithfully maintain appearance remains a significant challenge. In this work, we propose a real-time perceptual contrast-matching framework, that allows us to optimally remap scenes for target displays. Our framework is optimized for efficiency and runs on a mobile Quest 2 headset in under 1ms per frame. A subjective study on an HDR-VR prototype demonstrates our method’s effectiveness across a wide range of display luminances, producing imagery that is preferred to alternatives tone mapped at peak luminances an order of magnitude higher. This result highlights the importance of good tone mapping for visual quality in VR.

Holographic displays promise several benefits including high quality 3D imagery, accurate accommodation cues, and compact form-factors. However, holography relies on coherent illumination which can create undesirable speckle noise in the final image. Although smooth phase holograms can be speckle-free, their non-uniform eyebox makes them impractical, and speckle mitigation with partially coherent sources also reduces resolution. Averaging sequential frames for speckle reduction requires high speed modulators and consumes temporal bandwidth that may be needed elsewhere in the system. In this work, we propose multisource holography, a novel architecture that uses an array of sources to suppress speckle in a single frame without sacrificing resolution. By using two spatial light modulators, arranged sequentially, each source in the array can be controlled almost independently to create a version of the target content with different speckle. Speckle is then suppressed when the contributions from the multiple sources are averaged at the image plane. We introduce an algorithm to calculate multisource holograms, analyze the design space, and demonstrate up to a 10 dB increase in peak signal-to-noise ratio compared to an equivalent single source system. Finally, we validate the concept with a benchtop experimental prototype by producing both 2D images and focal stacks with natural defocus cues.

As virtual reality (VR) headsets continue to achieve ever more immersive visuals along the axes of resolution, field of view, focal cues, distortion mitigation, and so on, the luminance and dynamic range of these devices falls far short of widely available consumer televisions. While work remains to be done on the display architecture side, power and weight limitations in head-mounted displays pose a challenge for designs aiming for high luminance. In this paper, we seek to gain a basic understanding of VR user preferences for display luminance values in relation to known, real-world luminances for immersive, natural scenes. To do so, we analyze the luminance characteristics of an existing high-dynamic-range (HDR) panoramic image dataset, build an HDR VR headset capable of reproducing over 20,000 nits peak luminance, and conduct a first-of-its-kind study on user brightness preferences in VR. We conclude that current commercial VR headsets do not meet user preferences for display luminance, even for indoor scenes.

Holographic displays promise to deliver unprecedented display capabilities in augmented reality applications, featuring a wide field of view, wide color gamut, spatial resolution, and depth cues all in a compact form factor. While emerging holographic display approaches have been successful in achieving large étendue and high image quality as seen by a camera, the large étendue also reveals a problem that makes existing displays impractical: the sampling of the holographic field by the eye pupil. Existing methods have not investigated this issue due to the lack of displays with large enough étendue, and, as such, they suffer from severe artifacts with varying eye pupil size and location. We show that the holographic field as sampled by the eye pupil is highly varying for existing display setups, and we propose pupil-aware holography that maximizes the perceptual image quality irrespective of the size, location, and orientation of the eye pupil in a near-eye holographic display. We validate the proposed approach both in simulations and on a prototype holographic display and show that our method eliminates severe artifacts and significantly outperforms existing approaches.

As virtual reality (VR) devices become increasingly commonplace, asymmetric interactions between people with and without headsets are becoming more frequent. Existing video pass-through VR headsets solve one side of these asymmetric interactions by showing the user a live reconstruction of the outside world. This paper further advocates for reverse pass-through VR , wherein a three-dimensional view of the user's face and eyes is presented to any number of outside viewers in a perspective-correct manner using a light field display. Tying together research in social telepresence and copresence, autostereoscopic displays, and facial capture, reverse pass-through VR enables natural eye contact and other important non-verbal cues in a wider range of interaction scenarios, providing a path to potentially increase the utility and social acceptability of VR headsets in shared and public spaces.

Light scattering on diffuse rough surfaces was long assumed to destroy geometry and photometry information about hidden (non line of sight) objects making `looking around the corner' (LATC) and `non line of sight' (NLOS) imaging impractical. Recent work pioneered by Kirmani et al. [1], Velten et al. [2] demonstrated that transient information (time of flight information) from these scattered third bounce photons can be exploited to solve LATC and NLOS imaging. In this paper, we quantify the geometric and photometric reconstruction limits of LATC and NLOS imaging for the first time using a classical linear systems approach. The relationship between the albedo of the voxels in a hidden volume to the third bounce measurements at the sensor is a linear system that is determined by the geometry and the illumination source. We study this linear system and employ empirical techniques to find the limits of the information contained in the third bounce photons as a function of various system parameters.

Conventional binocular head-mounted displays (HMDs) vary the stimulus to vergence with the information in the picture, while the stimulus to accommodation remains fixed at the apparent distance of the display, as created by the viewing optics. Sustained vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC) has been associated with visual discomfort, motivating numerous proposals for delivering near-correct accommodation cues. We introduce focal surface displays to meet this challenge, augmenting conventional HMDs with a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) placed between the display screen and viewing optics. This SLM acts as a dynamic freeform lens, shaping synthesized focal surfaces to conform to the virtual scene geometry. We introduce a framework to decompose target focal stacks and depth maps into one or more pairs of piecewise smooth focal surfaces and underlying display images. We build on recent developments in "optimized blending" to implement a multifocal display that allows the accurate depiction of occluding, semi-transparent, and reflective objects. Practical benefits over prior accommodation-supporting HMDs are demonstrated using a binocular focal surface display employing a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) phase SLM and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display.

Incoherent holography has recently attracted significant research interest due to its flexibility for a wide variety of light sources. In this paper, we use compressive sensing to reconstruct a three-dimensional volumetric object from its two-dimensional Fresnel incoherent correlation hologram. We show how compressed sensing enables reconstruction without out-of-focus artifacts, when compared to conventional back-propagation recovery. Finally, we analyze the reconstruction guarantees of the proposed approach both numerically and theoretically and compare that with coherent holography.

Structured light 3D scanning systems are fundamentally constrained by limited sensor bandwidth and light source power, hindering their performance in real-world applications where depth information is essential, such as industrial automation, autonomous transportation, robotic surgery, and entertainment. We present a novel structured light technique called Motion Contrast 3D scanning (MC3D) that maximizes bandwidth and light source power to avoid performance trade-offs. The technique utilizes motion contrast cameras that sense temporal gradients asynchronously, i.e., independently for each pixel, a property that minimizes redundant sampling. This allows laser scanning resolution with single-shot speed, even in the presence of strong ambient illumination, significant inter-reflections, and highly reflective surfaces. The proposed approach will allow 3D vision systems to be deployed in challenging and hitherto inaccessible real-world scenarios requiring high performance using limited power and bandwidth.

Light field cameras allow us to digitally refocus a photograph after the time of capture. However, recording a light field requires either a significant loss in spatial resolution [11, 21, 10] or a large number of images to be captured [12]. In this paper, we propose incoherent holography for digital refocusing without loss of spatial resolution from only 3 captured images. The main idea is to capture 2D coherent holograms of the scene instead of the 4D light fields. The key properties of coherent light propagation are that the coherent spread function (hologram of a single point source) encodes scene depths and has a broadband spatial frequency response. These properties enable digital refocusing with 2D coherent holograms, which can be captured on sensors without loss of spatial resolution. Incoherent holography does not require illuminating the scene with high power coherent laser, making it possible to acquire holograms even for passively illuminated scenes. We provide an in-depth performance comparison between light field and incoherent holographic cameras in terms of the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). We show that given the same sensing resources, an incoherent holography camera outperforms light field cameras in most real world settings. We demonstrate a prototype incoherent holography camera capable of performing digital refocusing from only 3 acquired images. We show results on a variety of scenes that verify the accuracy of our theoretical analysis.